The word “goon” can refer to an awkward or clumsy person or a big bully. Its origins are obscure, but it was likely a dialectal word from northern England or Scotland. The word was also applied to large seabirds and a character in the Popeye comic strip. During World War II, the term was used by Allied soldiers to refer to their captors. Comedian Spike Milligan’s Goon Show influenced later comedy, and in Australia, cheap wine is referred to as “goon.”
A person called a goon can be one of two things: either an awkward and clumsy type of an individual, or a big bully or thug. The two types of hit men may be very different types of people, but the designation of each comes from a common origin, which has to do with a lack of understanding.
The earliest recorded form of the word “goon” was gony, which first occurred in print during the late 16th century. Its precise origins are obscure, but it was probably a dialectal word from northern England or Scotland. A gony, gonnie or gawney was a simpleton or fool, someone with a slight wit who behaved in a way that others found embarrassing. The quote in the Oxford English Dictionary describes an elderly “gonnie” who dances in an inappropriately youthful way.
An extension of the awkward sense of the word was applied to some large seabirds in the 19th century. A wacky bird or gooney bird was notably a gray albatross, awkward on the ground, which suffered in comparison to the more aesthetically appealing white albatross. Herman Melville, in The Encantadas, his 19th novella of the Galapagos Islands, calls the “unpleasant, unpoetic” gray albatross “the crafty bird.”
In 1933, EC Segar, the creator of the Thimble Theater comic strip and its hero Popeye, introduced a broad-shouldered, inarticulate, small-eyed character who captured people at the behest of the evil Sea Hag. Though this creature didn’t initially have a name, she was soon identified as Alice the Goon, the leader of a people called the Goons, who were the reluctant tools of the Sea Hag’s machinations.
While Alice the Goon emerged over time as a likable character, who acted as a nanny for Popeye’s adopted baby, Swee’Pea, the first appearances of this strangely menacing creature were startling enough to add another sense to the word goon. that of a witty professional bully. In 1938, burly men hired by logging companies to disrupt union meetings in the Pacific Northwest were called hit men. Similarly, during World War II, Allied soldiers held in German camps called their captors assassins.
Comedian Spike Milligan, both a veteran of this war familiar with the term for the enemy and a fan of Popeye’s adventures, called his 1951 BBC radio series The Goon Show. His characters, the Goons, were, however, far from menacing. They were, rather, just plain stupid, and Milligan’s program proved to be a significant influence on later comedy of the absurdist kind. Its title also went some way in returning the word goon to its original meaning, less creepy than a goof.
Another more contemporary use of the word goon occurs in Australia where huge bottles or jugs of inexpensive wine are referred to as goons. By extension, packages of cask wine or boxed wine, which are distilled in plastic bags and stored in cardboard boxes, are called goon bags.
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